Edith Somerville & Martin Ross

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Edith Somerville was born on the island of Corfu in Greece in 1858 and spent her early childhood on the Ionian Islands where her father was stationed. When she returned home to Drishane House in County Cork, she embarked on a relationship with the house that would remain with her the whole of her life. The eldest of eight children, Edith was educated at home. She adored riding and painting and spent years honing her craft; illustrating children’s books and sketching sporting prints. After a short stint at Alexandra College in Dublin, Edith was lucky enough to meet her second cousin in her home town of Castletownshend. Violet Martin (Martin Ross) was born in 1862 in Connemara, County Galway. Like Edith, she came from a large family and was a member of the landed gentry, but the Great Famine bankrupted her father. After his death, his sixteen children abandoned their beloved home, Ross House, and were not able to return until 1888, by which time his youngest daughter had already met Edith Somerville.